The fine Second World War Birthday Honours June 1943 British Empire Medal and English Channel off the Isle of Wight 30 June 1940 Action with enemy E-Boats King’s Commendation for Brave Conduct group awarded to Boatswain T.A.C. Harris, Merchant Navy. From Folkestone, Kent, he most probably served in the Mercantile Marine during the Great War, and was aboard the S.S. Helder when his ship, equipped with defensive armaments, saw action off St. Catherine’s Point, on the Isle of Wight, on 30 June 1940. His ship’s gunfire contributed to the destruction of an E-Boat - ‘the other one ran away, like all good for nothing Germans, and the Helder got off without a scratch’. But it was for his subsequent good work on the Helder’s 12-pounder in an action against enemy aircraft off the Humber on 5 February 1942 that he won his King’s Commendation. On that date, enemy machine-gun fire wounded Harris, but he remained at his gun and was credited with the aircraft’s destruction, a Naval officer later informing the ship’s Master that ‘one German body was found completely decapitated, the very best way to deal with all Huns’. In his response, the Master wrote: ‘I visited my Boatswain, T. A. C. Harris, at Grimsby & District Hospital today. He is making splendid progress and I expect he will be there for another seven days. He had seven small pieces of shrapnel in him, four in the fleshy part of his leg, and three in his arm. Today, four have been taken out of his leg ... ’ The award of the King’s Commendation for Brave Conduct was gazetted on 12 May 1942, and Harris, having recovered from his wounds, was still serving with the Helder when he was awarded the British Empire Medal in the King’s Birthday Honours List during June 1943.
Group of 4: British Empire Medal, GVI 1st type cypher, Civil Division; (THOMAS ALBERT CARDEN HARRIS); 1939-1945 Star; Atlantic Star; War Medal with Mention in Despatches Oakleaf representative of entitlement to the King’s Commendation for Brave Conduct. First with original ribbon and wearing pin.
Condition: Good Very Fine.
Provenance: ex Dix Noonan and Webb, 11 December 2013, Lot 174, when sold together with a copied letter that confirms some of the below.
Thomas Albert Carden Harris was born in April 1885 in Folkestone, Kent, and served in the Mercantile Marine, subsequently the Merchant Navy, being most likely on service at the time of the Great War. With the Second World War he saw service as a Boatswain, being aboard the S.S. Helder by the renewal of hostilities, when his ship was then equipped with defensive armaments. Harris first saw action off St. Catherine’s Point, on the Isle of Wight, on 30 June 1940, when his ship’s gunfire contributed to the destruction of an E-Boat - ‘the other one ran away, like all good for nothing Germans, and the Helder got off without a scratch’. When previously sold back in 2013 an accompanying letter confirmed this fact.
But it was for his subsequent good work on the Helder’s 12-pounder in an action against enemy aircraft off the Humber on 5 February 1942 that he won his King’s Commendation. On that date, enemy machine-gun fire wounded Harris, but he remained at his gun and was credited with the aircraft’s destruction, a Naval officer later informing the ship’s Master that ‘one German body was found completely decapitated, the very best way to deal with all Huns’. In his response, the Master wrote: ‘I visited my Boatswain, T. A. C. Harris, at Grimsby & District Hospital today. He is making splendid progress and I expect he will be there for another seven days. He had seven small pieces of shrapnel in him, four in the fleshy part of his leg, and three in his arm. Today, four have been taken out of his leg ... ’
The award of the King’s Commendation for Brave Conduct to Harris was announced in the London Gazette for 12 May 1942, the general citation reading: ‘For brave conduct when their ships encountered enemy ships, submarines, aircraft or mines.’
Harris recovered from his wounds and was still aboard the Helder when he was awarded the British Empire Medal in the King’s Birthday Honours List as published in the London Gazette for 4 June 1943. Harris served latterly in the S.S. Dearne, and finally came ashore in July 1945.
